What do you think of my approach?

[Beyond_Perfection]

I wanted to start shooting USPSA.

I had been thinking of it for a while.

I got lasik surgery done to see 15/20.

I Traded my Glock 17 for a M&P 9mm (Sense sold that for a .40)

I had a great trigger job done on the M&P .40 and fiber optic front sight installed.

I had shot IMHSA for a long time so accuracy was OK.

I practiced 3 to 5 times a week at the range and did 50 to 100 draws a night.

My practice was done at long range ...another mistake.

I also sit and do mag changes while watching TV.

I went to my first match with the 9mm and shot production.

Stage one and two I shot somewhat slow to be sure of all Alfas.

At 3 and 4 I had spoke to other competitors and learned that charlies were OK so I stepped it up a bit.

On 1 and 2 I was 12th and 15th out of 20. On 3 and 4 I was 6th and 8th.

I had made a mistake in dressing and wore jeans that were to tight and heavy boots.

This next match coming up I will be in shorts, sneakers and move my mag holders more to the front.

I will stay with the steady rate of fire I figure the speed will come in time.

I had zero misses and zero penalties.

Is this a good plan?

 

[Beyond_Perfection]

subscribing

 

[Chris Rhines]

You've got the motivation part down, at least.

Strategy - C's are not okay, especally shooting Production. You drop two points for every C, and that adds up in a hurry. A good rule of thumb is that you should be shooting 90-95% A's.

In Production, you have to keep your holster and magazine carriers behind the crest of the hip.

When you go to the range, you should have a practice plan. Steve Anderson (www.andersonshooting.com) sells an inexpensive book full of practice drills that cover all the skills you need for IPSC. Take a look.

Oh, and congratulations on your first match.

- Chris

 

[jmorris]

Production is scored minor reguarless, so unless your reloading minor .40 the 9mm would have been a better choice (and would be cheaper for live fire practice). There is no problem with practicing at long range for precision; Jerry Miculek has some plate racks he shoots at 50yds that most would view as insane at 25yds. You’ll just shoot faster up close. Since most of us have shot to shot splits between .25 and .15 there is not much time to make up there. Programming each stage so you know what you’re going to do before you do it (and not letting the buzzer suck that information out of your head) is the first step. Work on shot cadence and reducing target to target transition time. Then minimizing foot work is another key area, don’t take two steps to acquire a target if in a certain spot you wouldn’t have to move at all. Analyze a stage during your walk through (not just look at it). If you see some one shooting a stage different from others and don’t know why he did it that way, go ask, were not dirt track racers we enjoy sharing information.

 

[Beyond_Perfection]

I should have stated this.

After the first match I saw that I was much more interested in Limited that is why I got a .40

 

[Chris Rhines]

Ah, okay.

C's are still not cool. Shoot A's.

I don't even like people named Charlie, much less Mike.

- Chris

 

[Beyond_Perfection]

I went to the range this am. Fired 850 rounds 15 charlies!
It was flawless in every way.

The Dawson front sight and modifications to the rear made me shoot so much faster I will do much better next time

 

[yar]

Yes Alphas are always better but it's a balence of speed and accuracy. It sounds like you got enough accuracy where you can compromise some of it for speed. The trick is learning what you need to see for what targets. For close targets you don't even need to see your sights. Just run your gun into the target and if you see target on both sides of the gun rip off 2 quick ones. Figure out at what distance you actually need to see the sights. Figure out at what speed you can attain while still getting your hits on a hoser course.

These recommendations are going to outside or slightly outside your present ability. Just letting you know where the line for the next level is.

Took me a while to learn that I can trade 2 sloppy alphas for two tight doubles that are prefectly centered. Also it's a lot more fun to let it all hang out once in a while.

 

[Darth Muffin]

Congrats on taking up the sport! Shooting minor, C's are not OK. If you're shooting limited or L10 major, if you're not getting one or two C's per stage you're probably not going fast enough and could benefit from cranking the speed up a notch.

As yar said, only see what you need. Be dynamic in your target acquisition--in a point blank target you might not even need to bring the front sight into focus and et them perfectly lined up.

Other things to work on are target transition speed-get on to the target as fast as possible and leave for the next asap, and getting a good neutral grip and stance worked out. You shouldn't be torqing the gun around and fighting it with either hand and the sights should retun naturally to alignment. Focus on watching the sights, you should eventually see the front one lift (barely there myself).